Question about WS

[Dragosani]

Okay my goal for when FFXI comes out is to become a Nin/War and I was wondering if there is a skill cap on weapon skills depending on your rating for instance a ninja has ...

Grapple E
Dagger C
1h-Sword C
1h-Katana A+
2h-Katana C
1h-Staff E
Bow E
Shooting C
Throwing A
Evade A
Parry A
Ninjitsu A

so could I get some of the good high lvl WS's? like Grapples lvl 125 Random Blow, 1 Hand Swords lvl 200 Buffer Blade or maybe even the Bows lvl 175 Sidewinder and if so what lvl could I potentially receive them.

And do weapon skills carry over to other jobs? say I was a War/Sam with spear maxed for my lvl then I decide to become something totally diffrent say a Drg/Pal will my WS still be there but capped for my lvl or do I have to start all over again.

Also do you accumulate WS more slowly depending on your rating? & do you normally have enough time to raise multiple WS's to your lvl cap before you lvl again and have to fight tougher creatures.

All helpful posts are much appreciated

[Izual]

Yes, there is a skill cap based on your job's rating for that weapon. Using ninja as an example, your 1h katana skill will be capped significantly higher than 1h sword at the same job level. However, you can still get just about any weapon skill you want (except for job-specific WS's). You just might have to wait longer. For example, a Paladin might get buffer blade at lvl 60, but a ninja might have to wait until lvl 65 for his skill cap to be high enough (I'm just estimating on the lvls here).

Once you lvl a weapon, it stays at that lvl. So if your spear was at say 150 with your warrior, and you switched to a low lvl dragoon, spear would already be maxed for dragoon. And as soon as your dragoon lvled, your skill lvl for spear would automatically rise to the new skill cap.

I don't believe rating affects how fast a skill goes up, but I'm not positive on that.

It is certainly possible to keep several weapons at their skill cap. If you keep them lvled every time your job lvl goes up it really isn't that hard. Starting from 0 with a high lvl character sucks though.

I hope I explained everything clearly, if you still have more questions feel free to ask.

[Jei]

Can ninja use buffer blade...? their sword skill is only C
I only know warrior, paladin and dark knight can use it. Not sure if samurai, dragoon or ninja can use it on their own. any confirmation?

like redmages, B 1 hand sword. Yet I'm still using fast blade at level 70.... to use buffer blade i need to sub war pld or drk

(sidewinder if i use /ranger)

[Izual]

You're probably right Jei...I was just using buffer blade as an example to demonstrate the correlation between weapon rating and skill cap. I know there are some skills that can only be used by certain jobs, but I don't know for sure which ones they are.
According to Eriwilde's site, red lotus and seraph blade are the only 1h sword skills that require you to be a war, pld, or drk. But since your rdm can't use it either (and you're speaking from first-hand experience) I guess that information is incorrect